The Potentials of Dystopian Architecture: Hope and Tragedy at the Spatial Scale

Year 2023, Volume: 16 Issue: 3, 1707 - 1718, 15.09.2023

Gencay Cubuk

https://doi.org/10.35674/kent.1242913

Abstract

The study seeks an answer to the question of “What are the design potentials of dystopian architecture in the near future?” and aims to present a breakdown of the relations between the related potentials. In this context, the similarities and differences between the concepts of utopia and dystopia and the points where the concepts feed each other's definition and fields of study are examined through literature review. The prominent suggestions and emphases of the leading figures in the context of space are discussed, and implicit relationships are evaluated. The study focuses on developing an original spatial understanding of the future by tracing hope and tragedy at the spatial scale of dystopian architecture. Greene, on the semantic similarities and differences of the concepts of utopia and dystopia, Zahrani on the end of utopia, Pereira on the role of architecture in dystopian fiction writing, MacLeod and Ward on the way dystopian elements in contemporary cities are associated, Was on architectural details in science fiction, Knutz on new typological searches in design fiction, Coleman on the role of architecture in dystopian fiction writing. problems, Crosbie to utopia and the search for the main figure in dystopia, Schneekloth to the themes that reproduce and distort the world, Kraftl to hope and pleasure in the context of housing, Sprecher and Leblanc to atopia, Scott to techno-utopia, Mihailescu to dystopian fiction, Miller to the dystopian side of post-apocalyptic hope forms in feminist ideology and Picon refer to the ways in which the themes of the near future are read through the city. In this direction, it is concluded that dystopian collages can be developed over themes that are completely dependent on reality, as opposed to superficial prejudices that are heavily fed from the past and present. Dystopian architecture continues to exist as a successor rather than an opposite of utopia architecture, and gains spatial mobility to the extent that it interprets futuristic themes through existing variables.

Keywords

Dystopian Architecture, Fututistic Architecture, Dystopian Space, Atopia, Techno-Utopia

Distopya Mimarlığının Potansiyelleri: Mekân Ölçeğinde Umut ve Trajedi

Abstract

Çalışma, “Distopya mimarlığının yakın gelecekteki tasarım potansiyelleri nelerdir?” sorusuna cevap arar ve bu potansiyeller arasındaki bağların ilişkilerine ait bir döküm sunmayı hedefler. Bu bağlamda, literatür taraması yoluyla, ütopya ve distopya kavramları arasındaki benzerlikler ve farklar ile kavramların birbirlerinin tanımlarını ve çalışma alanlarını besledikleri noktalar irdelenir. Öncü figürlerin mekân bağlamında öne çıkan öneri ve vurguları tartışılır, örtük ilişkiler değerlendirilir. Çalışma, distopya mimarlığının mekân ölçeğinde umut ve trajedinin izini sürerek, geleceğe ilişkin özgün bir mekânsal kavrayış geliştirilebilmesine odaklanır. Greene ütopya ve distopya kavramlarının anlamsal benzerlik ve farklılıklarına, Zahrani ütopyanın sonuna, Pereira mimarlığın distopik kurgu yazımındaki rolüne, MacLeod ve Ward çağdaş şehirlerdeki distopik öğelerin ilişkilenme biçimlerine, Was, bilimkurgudaki mimari detaylara, Knutz tasarım kurgusundaki yeni tipolojik arayışlara, Coleman mimarlıkta ütopyanın kronikleşen sorunlarına, Crosbie ütopya ve distopyadaki ana figür arayışına, Schneekloth dünyayı yeniden üreten ve bozan temalara, Kraftl konut bağlamında umut ve hazza, Sprecher ve Leblanc atopyaya, Scott tekno-ütopyaya, Mihailescu distopik kurguya, Miller feminist ideolojideki post-apokaliptik umut etme biçimlerinin distopik yanına ve Picon, şehir üzerinden yakın geleceğin temalarının okunma biçimlerine değinir. Bu doğrultuda, distopik kolajların, geçmiş ve şimdiki zamandan yoğun biçimde beslenen ve yüzeysel önyargıların aksine, gerçekliğe büsbütün bağlı temalar üzerinden geliştirilebildiği sonucuna varılır. Distopya mimarlığı, ütopya mimarlığının bir karşıtı değil, bir ardılı olarak varlığını sürdürmekte ve fütüristik temaları, mevcut değişkenler üzerinden yorumladığı ölçüde mekânsal bir devingenlik kazanmaktadır.

Keywords

Distopya Mimarlığı, Fütüristik Mimarlık, Distopik Mekan, Atopya, Tekno-Ütopya

References

• Biraghi, M. (2019). “Reality as Utopia: Urban Contemporary Visions” in Dario Donetti, ed., Architecture and Dystopia Florence: Kunsthistorisches Institut
• Coleman., N. (2014). The Problematic of Architecture and Utopia. Utopian Studies, 25(1), 1–22. https://doi.org/10.5325/utopianstudies.25.1.0001 s.20
• Crosbie, M.J. (2016). Playing the Starring Role of Utopia/Dystopia: Architecture in Film. s.1
• Foucault, M. (1982). Space, Power, and Knowledge, Paul Rabinow’la söyleşi, çev. Christian Hubert, Skyline, 245.
• Greene, V. (2011). Utopia/Dystopia. American Art, 25(2), 2–7. https://doi.org/10.1086/661960 s. 2
• Knutz, E., Markussen, T., Christensen, P. (2014). The Role of Fiction in Experiments within Design, Art & Architecture - Towards a New Typology of Design Fiction. Artifact. III. 8.1. - 8.13. 10.14434/artifact.v3i2.4045.
• Kraftl, P. (2010). Architectural Movements, Utopian Moments: (In) Coherent Renderings Of The Hundertwasser-Haus, Vienna. Geografiska Annaler. Series B, Human Geography, 92(4), 327–345. http://www.jstor.org/stable/40981002
• MacLeod, G., & Ward, K. (2002). Spaces of Utopia and Dystopia: Landscaping the Contemporary City. Geografiska Annaler. Series B, Human Geography, 84(3/4), 153–170. http://www.jstor.org/stable/3554313
• Mihailescu, C. A. (1991). Mind the Gap: Dystopia as Fiction. Style, 25(2), 211–222. http://www.jstor.org/stable/42945903 s. 218
• Miller, J. (1998). Post-Apocalyptic Hoping: Octavia Butler’s Dystopian/Utopian Vision. Science Fiction Studies, 25(2), 336–360. http://www.jstor.org/stable/4240705
• Pereira, V. (2018). Does architecture play a significant role in modern utopian/dystopian writing?. 10.13140/RG.2.2.13041.12644. s. 330
• Picon, A. (2017). Notes on Utopia, the City, and Architecture. Grey Room. 68. 94-105. 10.1162/GREY_a_00222.
• Rabinow, Paul. (1989). French modern : norms and forms of the social environment. Cambridge, Mass : MIT Press
• Sadler, S. (2019). “Games without Frontiers” in Dario Donetti, ed., Architecture and Dystopia Florence: Kunsthistorisches Institut
• Savorra, M. (2019). “Leisure in a Time of Utopia,” in Dario Donetti, ed., Architecture and Dystopia Florence: Kunsthistorisches Institut
• Scott, F. D. (2001). Architecture or Techno-Utopia. Grey Room, 3, 113–126. http://www.jstor.org/stable/1262568 s. 111
• Sprecher, A., & Leblanc, F. (2013). Dissipative Architecture: The Informed Nature of Atopia. Journal of Architectural Education (1984-), 67(1), 27–30. http://www.jstor.org/stable/42569996 s.1
• Schneekloth, L. H. (1998). Uredeemably Utopian: Architecture and Making/Unmaking the World. Utopian Studies, 9(1), 1–25. http://www.jstor.org/stable/20719740 s. 21-23
• Vidler, A. (2019). “Utopia Rediviva,1960-1972,” in Dario Donetti, ed., Architecture and Dystopia Florence: Kunsthistorisches Institut, s. 25-42.
• Was, C. (2018). The Tannhäuser Gate. Architecture in science fiction films of the second half of the 20th and the beginning of the 21st century as a component of utopian and dystopian projections of the future. 49. 83-109. 10.11588/quart.2018.3.67954. s. 107
• Zahrani, Sara & Babonji, Reaal & Alhalabi, Heba & Taylor, George. (2022). End of Utopia: Dystopian Architecture. Civil Engineering and Architecture. 10. 93-101. 10.13189/cea.2022.101312. s. 93